TO: THE RESIDENTS AND GUESTS OF COLLIER COUNTY

May 2002

Dear Residents and Guests of Collier County,

    "Mother Nature" was kind to us last year.  Although Gabrielle had the potential to cause significant damage, we escaped, once again, relatively unscathed.   The dawn of a new millennium brings increased growth and population, and with it, new challenges in sheltering and evacuation.  We are expecting an above average hurricane season this year with twelve named storms forecast.  Seven of these are expected to develop into hurricanes, and three are expected to be intense.  Let us hope that they will remain out in the Atlantic.

    The "Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)" program is alive and well in North Naples and the Isles of Capri.  We are continuing to look for neighborhood groups in Collier County interested in this free training.  The 21 hour, 7 week course will train members in basic first aid, fire fighting, security, and other topics.  Training is conducted by EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement and Emergency Management personnel.  For more information call 774 8444 or 774 8095.

    Collier County residents continue to use color coded decals to facilitate re-entry into the area after a disaster.  Decals can be picked up from the law enforcement agency responsible for your area.  Do it NOW, do not wait until a storm threatens.

    The best way to receive alerts and warning of severe weather or evacuation is to monitor NOAA weather radio at 162.525 MHz.  Weather radios with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology can be purchased at many local radio/electronic stores for less than $70.00.

    An additional way to monitor severe and tropical weather is to bookmark our web page at http://www.collierem.org/, or our mirror site at http://www.colliergov.net/emergency/index.html.  We provide a wealth of real-time information including a pet motel directory for the southeastern United States.  You can even sign up for our CollierEMAlert list  or Emergency E-mail to receive public safety announcements via email.

    Emergency Management is aggressively working with other Voluntary Organizations Assisting in Disaster (VOAD), in addition to our local American Red Cross and Salvation Army chapters to keep Collier County as safe as possible.  The public safety agencies of Collier County, Naples, Marco Island, and Everglades City are deeply committed to your safety and well being.  We hope this publication will be helpful in assisting you in protecting your home and family.

    We appreciate and remain indebted to RolSafe for making this preparedness tool available to our residents and guests for the 10th consecutive year.  Suggestions for improving this pamphlet are always welcome.

    Stay safe!

/s/ Ken Pineau, CEM, FPEM
Emergency Management Director

Department email: emergman@naples.net

For additional Collier County hurricane information, write or call: 

COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 3301 East Tamiami Trail, Building F Naples, Florida 34112 (239) 774-8444 Board of County Commissioners Emergency Services Division Collier County, Florida Last updated 14 May 2002 by Rick Zyvoloski © 2002, Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida